NOBLE and Me
May 14, 2004
Yesterday I got a phone call that woke me up as to how the
world really works. Actually this story starts last week. Last
week someone from N.O.B.L.E. I was very busy at the
moment, meeting with the new DFSD. She, the woman from NOBLE, asked if I was aware that I was not selected for the Internal Afairs job for TSA. I said yes I knew. Then she asked me something else, I don't know what because I was talking to someone else. So I just said "Sure sure, yes." Then hung up.
So yesterday, I got back to my desk at about 5:30pm. I checked my messages. I only had one. It was from the Office of Civil Rights. At first I thought this was in refrence to a case I had worked involving an ex-IRS agent. He had threated to call the ACLU for percieved double jeopardy issues. It turns out that the Office of Civil Rights wanted to defend me for not getting the IA position. She continued that she got my name from NOBLE. The converstaion continued as such:
TS:"Well, there's a problem. I'm not black."
OCR:"What?"
TS:"No. I'm a white guy. Irish. I'm a member of the Emerald Society, if that matters."
OCR:"Oh. I don't know what to say." she chuckled a bit "Exuse me for laughing."
TS:"No, you should laugh, this is kinda funny. There's a guy sitting next to me laughing his ass off."
OCR:"Oh...hmm...Well, are you at least an honorary black man?"
TS:"Nope. Not even an honorary one. How did you get my name?
OCR:"From NOBLE. Let me check, you spell your name S-E-E-R-Y?"
TS:"Yep.
OCR:"Well, I'm sorry for the mix up. I'll let them know.
TS:"Ok. Thank you"
and I hung up. I don't know why I thanked her, but she was very polite on the phone. What kept me laughing is "...are you at least an honorary black man?" What the hell does that mean? How does that happen? is there some secret hand shake you have to learn, pay your dues then you're in?
But what started to bug me was the thought that, they only called because they thought I was black. I've put in for jobs before, no one ever called to defend me. But here' an office of people in power looking to jump to my rescure, only because they thought I was black.
Draw from that whatever conclusion you want.
Yesterday I got a phone call that woke me up as to how the
world really works. Actually this story starts last week. Last
week someone from N.O.B.L.E. I was very busy at the
moment, meeting with the new DFSD. She, the woman from NOBLE, asked if I was aware that I was not selected for the Internal Afairs job for TSA. I said yes I knew. Then she asked me something else, I don't know what because I was talking to someone else. So I just said "Sure sure, yes." Then hung up.
So yesterday, I got back to my desk at about 5:30pm. I checked my messages. I only had one. It was from the Office of Civil Rights. At first I thought this was in refrence to a case I had worked involving an ex-IRS agent. He had threated to call the ACLU for percieved double jeopardy issues. It turns out that the Office of Civil Rights wanted to defend me for not getting the IA position. She continued that she got my name from NOBLE. The converstaion continued as such:
TS:"Well, there's a problem. I'm not black."
OCR:"What?"
TS:"No. I'm a white guy. Irish. I'm a member of the Emerald Society, if that matters."
OCR:"Oh. I don't know what to say." she chuckled a bit "Exuse me for laughing."
TS:"No, you should laugh, this is kinda funny. There's a guy sitting next to me laughing his ass off."
OCR:"Oh...hmm...Well, are you at least an honorary black man?"
TS:"Nope. Not even an honorary one. How did you get my name?
OCR:"From NOBLE. Let me check, you spell your name S-E-E-R-Y?"
TS:"Yep.
OCR:"Well, I'm sorry for the mix up. I'll let them know.
TS:"Ok. Thank you"
and I hung up. I don't know why I thanked her, but she was very polite on the phone. What kept me laughing is "...are you at least an honorary black man?" What the hell does that mean? How does that happen? is there some secret hand shake you have to learn, pay your dues then you're in?
But what started to bug me was the thought that, they only called because they thought I was black. I've put in for jobs before, no one ever called to defend me. But here' an office of people in power looking to jump to my rescure, only because they thought I was black.
Draw from that whatever conclusion you want.
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